Tax Ethics For Smarties

I have tax reform guidelines, and they’re not for dummies. My guidelines are for smart people who think rationally. Irrational folks like Warren Buffet may need to eat a bag of Halloween candy before they’re alert enough to understand my conception of ethical taxation.

Tax reform is one of the hottest topics in the news. Americans are feverishly debating tax proposals like Cain’s “999” plan, Perry’s “20/20” plan, Romney’s “flat, simpler and fairer” plan and Ron Paul’s plan to cut taxes by slashing well over $1 trillion in expenses and foreign aid and bringing spending to the pre-recession days of 2006. Meanwhile, President Obama is tantalizing voters (especially indebted college students) with proposals like the “Buffet Tax” and “We Can’t Wait.”

I think we need to ask ourselves a fundamental question: “Under what circumstances may our government rightfully seize and spend our money?”

When we die? When our spouse dies? When we pass our inheritance along to our children and grandchildren? When a government agency wants to hinder oil production? When the president wants a new czar? When a politician wants to buy votes by financing college tuition for illegal immigrants?

Federalist and framer Alexander Hamilton believed that the Constitution empowered the people by placing clear checks and balances on federal power. Hamilton explains in “The Federalist No. 78” that the legislative branch controls the purse strings and makes laws, the executive branch enforces the laws and the judiciary branch “may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment.”

So, a “just” tax is one that doesn’t disturb the checks and balances stipulated by the Constitution. Last week, President Obama spoke to an auditorium of college students at the University of Colorado Denver. He said, "We can’t wait for Congress to do its job. So where they won’t act, I will. ...[with] executive actions.” He then went on to explain how he is bypassing Congress in the areas of education, healthcare, home mortgages and college student loans.

Congress is acting. The House passed at least 15 bipartisan pro-jobs bills that would spur energy exploration and shrink the power of government agencies like the EPA. The President’s friends in the Senate don’t like these bills, but that does not mean Congress “won’t act.” Ultimately, our president is not a king. His constitutional role is to enforce the laws and let Congress make the laws.

Anytime the federal government bypasses the constitution’s checks and balances and allows taxpayer funds to be used inappropriately, it’s effectively levying an unjust tax.

Katie Kieffer is the author of a new book published by Random House, “LET ME BE CLEAR: Barack Obama’s War on Millennials and One Woman’s Case for Hope.” She writes a weekly column for Townhall.com. She also runs KatieKieffer.com.